04 GTO on Fire!

[ITSNOTAGN]

hi again! i posted about my progress on the frame off in another thread, and promised info and pics as to her demise, so here they are.
April 21st, I was out cruising in my GTO, just rollin around about 40-45 mph, wasting time, gonna go to the bar to have a few when my buddys got off work. as i was driving down the road, i went to shift into 6th gear and realized i had no clutch at all, as i slowed to investigate, the car sputtered out and died, started smoking and flames were coming out around the hood. at this point i said F--- that im outta here, threw as much stuff as i could find out into the ditch and bailed out. After a lot of investigating and talking to many GTO owners, i have come to the conclusion that the engine cover on the drivers side must have rubbed through the fuel line (teflon with a rubber sheath) and sprayed fuel eveywhere. Anyway, if you go to any of the GTO forums, that was me, and check your fuel lines! so now im back into the buick game and doing alot of work, hope you find this interesting and post any comments, also see my other post called frame off pics! for progress on my WE 4, thanks
Gary

 

[ITSNOTAGN]

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[Pablo]

man thats crazy, a new car burning down like that

are you saying there is some sort of design flaw in these things? One that would predispose them to rubbing through the fuel line like that?

 

[SilverSleeper]

Dude, was that you taking the pics?
I can't imagine myself taking pics of my own burning car. I'd be on the side of the road bawling if that happened to me.

No one had a fire extinguisher around? I carry one just in case in my cars. Even if its not my car thats going up, I may be able to save someone elses.

I was lucky. Last time I drove my Regal, my fuel line split, and I didnt realize it till I got home. I drove almost 20 miles with the return line spewing out all over!

 

[JoeNational]

Dammmn thats crazy!!!, I agree if that was my car i would jumping on the flames causing personal injury to myself just to put the flames out. I hope you had full coverage on this car as I only assume you did since it was new and all, plus the fact that it wasn't even your fault. Well glad to see that nobody got hurt. Good luck with any future cars.

 

[BandAid]

Sorry to hear that,,but sounds like you are not getting another GTO,good way out of it....

 

[turbofish38]

Dude, was that you taking the pics?
I can't imagine myself taking pics of my own burning car.

Yeah, I'd be on it calling 911!

Yep, I'm going to hell too. I burned my first hot air Riviera to ground. Theres not much you can do when you're waiting for what seems like an eternity for the fire department to show up. It took the fire dept 4 minutes to respond to my fire and it took out everything from the dash pad forward. Then they finished off the rest of the car with about 500 gallons of water. Boy,that gasoline sure does make fire burn hotter than normal. I had the hood open.When the flames burned through the fuel hose and than melted the insulation on the wire it grounded out the fuel pump and sent a column of fire about 10 feet straight up. Red Adair would have been proud.

 

[ITSNOTAGN]

yes that was me taking the pics, i was out in the country, it took 30 mins for the fire dept to get there . and yes BandAid, i have gotten enough comments about saying "looks like someone wanted out of a payment", too bad i was paying double payments for the past 6 months and had already dropped my monthly payment over 100 bucks, or the fact i just mailed in another $600 payment a few days before this happened. I really loved that car and had put alot of work into it, running that 11.85 on 245/45-17 street tires, i was proud. anyway nothing else to do while your standing there, might as well make some memories right. and fyi no i didnt buy another GTO, i got a new SUV instead, so i still have a payment anyway.
Gary

 

[Quiky One]

Wow... . I thought new cars were supposed to be reliable. Sorry to hear. Glad it didnt happen to your TR.

Jason :frown:

 

[BandAid]

Most importantly ,everone is safe....

 

[madhat]

yes, that is very important!
What made you decide to get an SUV over another GTO or another car?

 

[NJVetteGuy]

After a lot of investigating and talking to many GTO owners, i have come to the conclusion that the engine cover on the drivers side must have rubbed through the fuel line (teflon with a rubber sheath) and sprayed fuel eveywhere.

The same setup is used on C5s, and f-bodies. No rub-throughs on any of those, with the same design, perhaps it's this "150hp magic" you mention in your signature:

04 GTO, Blk/Blk M6-- burned to the ground april 21, 2006
12.63@109.4 2.08 60'
11.85@121with magical 150hp
87 WE-4, PTE-44, Bluetops, , PAC Alky RJC PP
12.12@113, 1.88 60', still spinning, 26psi-- Feb 05
full rebuild starting summer 2006

A leaky line to the fuel solenoid is a far more likely cause than a fuel line that hasn't rubbed through on tens of thousands of other LS1 cars. Unless the fuel rail covers were improperly installed, which is possible since you had work done on the car.

 

[ITSNOTAGN]

well it hasnt rubbed through on tens of thousands of LS1s, but it is rubbing on 10,000 2004 GTO's. Its been documented on ls1gto.com by quite a few members with pics also, and it was obviously a design fault because the design was changed on the 05-06's. and i had no juice on anymore because of a leaking nitrous solenoid, so i took the works off to rebuild both of them, and was waiting on seals. have you checked your fuel line???? if not maybe you should, and do a search on ls1gto.com and see that this isnt a fluke problem.

 

[dragonational]

I was really hoping that this thread was going to end with Just kidding my photo shop skills are great huh. Dang man that really sucks. Did the insurance company ask alot of questions? My brother had a car burn to the ground and it took them forever to determine that he didnt do it it was stupid.

 

[vicious6]

Man that sucks, I love those cars. I would love to have one. But the money is not there, so......

 

[NJVetteGuy]

well it hasnt rubbed through on tens of thousands of LS1s, but it is rubbing on 10,000 2004 GTO's. Its been documented on ls1gto.com by quite a few members with pics also, and it was obviously a design fault because the design was changed on the 05-06's. and i had no juice on anymore because of a leaking nitrous solenoid, so i took the works off to rebuild both of them, and was waiting on seals. have you checked your fuel line???? if not maybe you should, and do a search on ls1gto.com and see that this isnt a fluke problem.

I don't have any rub through on mine, and have not noted it on any customer's vehicles either. The design change for '05 was because of a different fuel setup for the LS2. I'm on ls1gto, I don't go on there often as many of the members are more interested in racing dyno sheets than actual cars. Don't forget about the multiple page thread about idiots wanting to start a class action lawsuit against GM for having the light tire rub on the front strut problem that any dealer will gladly fix, even if the problem was partially caused by owner errors. I'll be hanging out with Kenny C(owner of the 9 second Cartek turbo GTO) tomorrow, I'll ask him to check his fuel line for rub-through as well

 

[denn454]

talk about a bad day. but i do have to say the pictures come out nicely. I'm really glad i found this, i've been concidering getting a gto, an 05 is the way i was leaning but i would have settled with an 04 for a good price, not anymore. thanks for posting that here and saving at least one person from a potental nightmare

 

[kellygtp]

awww poor pontiac.....i hope you get another one

 

[NJVetteGuy]

talk about a bad day. but i do have to say the pictures come out nicely. I'm really glad i found this, i've been concidering getting a gto, an 05 is the way i was leaning but i would have settled with an 04 for a good price, not anymore. thanks for posting that here and saving at least one person from a potental nightmare

LOL you won't buy a car because somebody else had a fire under the hood, after mods that involved the fuel system? The line he swears caused it, is nearly identical to the ones used on thousands of other GM products with LS family engines. I have had my hands in several single digit LS1 cars, and this is the first I've heard of any problem with the braided fuel line rubbing through against the plastic fuel rail cover. Perhaps he'd have more credibility if there wasn't a nitrous kit with disconnected components under the hood.

and i had no juice on anymore because of a leaking nitrous solenoid, so i took the works off to rebuild both of them, and was waiting on seals.

 

[denn454]

maybe i misread it but i believe he also said there have been ~10,000 other issues like this. i don't know if i believe that number, gm would have issued a recall if there were that many problems. but still it sounded like its not limited to just his car.

and becides the ls2 cars look better, run better, and cost about the same. whats not to like